The Scent of Black Roses
by AngloFalcon
Summary: An anthology of stories from the world of Zootopia. Light and Shade. Life and Death. Black and White. Happiness follows sorrow as the stories explore a tapestry of themes. Each story is a standalone oneshot offering haunting looks into the lives of the inhabitants of Zootopia. Read and review.
1. The sound of silence

**By AngloFalcon**

 **The Sound of Silence**

* * *

The rain lashed against the windscreen, dribbling down in vein-like tributaries, collecting on the bottom lip. The ferocity of the downpour defied the capacity of the windscreen wipers to make any real improvement to the night's visibility. Instead, everything in front of the car was a muddy swirl, sliced by two prongs of light radiating from the headlights. The siren blare mixed with the beating of rain.

"About here," Nick said, slowing the car to a juddering halt, lengthways in the middle of the entrance to an open car park.

"You sure, partner?" the rabbit sitting next to him grinned.

"Absolutely. I'm a promising junior detective, remember? Your words, not mine."

"Well you clearly took them to heart," she said, bending down to retrieve her notepad. "Targo Djudak. He's a puma."

"Yeah, wanted for five robberies. I read too, Judy. I have a good brain that comes with this handsome mug," Nick nodded, checking his gun, counting the bullets carefully and clipping the magazine back into place.

"Carmello Street, Dubas road, Migration Avenue, Cluedark Drive," Judy ticked each one off on her list. "He's going to hit here tonight, Nick."

"And here's his audition." Nick pointed to a figure sliding against the square warehouse they were facing, almost impossible to make out in the violent weather. "Gotta give him credit for showing on time, but he's a dumb-dumb if he hasn't even seen our car sitting here like a-"

There was a crunching sound as the windscreen cracked. A hole had appeared in the middle, cracks spreading out in a spider web.

"Down!" Nick yelped, ducking his head under the wheel.

"What the hell is he doing?" Judy spat, fingering her own firearm.

Three more holes patterned the windscreen as bullets speared inside. Nick's heart drummed. He could feel his paws going sweaty, the way they did back on the firing range in the academy. "Oh, he's so definitely gonna have a bad day!" He reached for the handle, flipping it open quickly and rolling outside onto the drenched tarmac, pulling the door fully open as a shield.

He waited, breathing, pulse tapping. Another shot smashed the screen to his door, glass cracking as he ducked his head down again.

"Damn you!" he shouted, steadying himself in a kneeling position, pistol raised. He saw Judy kick her own door open, sliding her small body out of the car and getting into position to add her own firing support if needed.

"Megaphone."

Judy looked at him through the car. "What?"

"Megaphone!" he yelled. She decided he probably didn't need one after all but grabbed it, throwing it through the car to him.

"Targo Djudak, you have ten seconds to stand down. Throw the gun to us and come forward with your hands on your head. Do you understand?"

 _Bam_

Another bullet punched into the car's front tyre. Air hissed out as the car dropped a fraction on its front right.

"That was your only warning, jackass!" Nick shouted through the megaphone. His face was hot. His ears folded back in anger. The fox stuck his gun over the broken door window, trying to avoid touching jagged triangles of glass as he fired off three rounds.

"Where is he?" Judy shouted.

"I don't know! He's probably ducked behind that bollard. Can you see it? Right there." A flash from a small firearm confirmed Nick's suspicion. They could just see the puma's hunched back, illuminated in red by the flashing neon light advertising _Skunkson's Wholesales_ which hung above.

 _This is getting nowhere_. Nick slipped back to the car, laying across the driver's seat so he was near enough for Judy to hear. "I have a plan, Carrots."

She glanced at him distrustfully, immediately returning her eyes to the bollard.

"It's not like the previous plans!" he insisted. "I'll fire three shots. You're faster than me. You run to those bins right there," he pointed. "You'll get a better shot at this punk."

Judy smiled, shaking rainwater off her face. "Let's do it, chief."

 _Chief?_ He could get used to that.

"GO!" he shouted, firing as he did so. One shot. His gun clicked. He pulled the trigger again. The same metallic click. How could he be so stupid?

"You've got to be-"

An explosion sounded. A single gunshot. He looked at his gun for a second in confusion. Then his heart stopped. He slid round to look through the car again.

 _No, no!_

Judy lay on her back one meter from the car. Her paws were squeezed together on her stomach, pressing. He could see her face grimacing, tears coming to her eyes.

"Judy!"

He began to rise but was instantly greeted with another two shots spitting past his head. He fell back to his knees.

"Judy!"

His heart felt like it was tearing out of his chest. He had to get to her.

"Steak you!" he shouted, snapping a fresh magazine into his pistol and firing another two shots. He ran out in front of the car, sliding over the hood, not caring if this put him in more danger.

The rain beat down on him as he slid to a halt on his knees beside her. He didn't even bother aiming but turned and fired off another three shots. A pained scream from a short distance away brought him some satisfaction. He spun round to Judy again. It looked like the bullet had passed straight through her stomach. He wished to hell he'd paid more attention to the first aid module. He gripped her limp paw, checking her pulse. It was so faint it frightened him. His stomach churned and his paws moved around uselessly. He didn't know what to do. He had practiced it tens of times and now his mind was blank. Panicked.

"Judy…" he lowered his ear to her chest. In the rain, listening to her heartbeat was impossible. Her chest was still. Why wasn't she breathing?

"JUDY!" he screamed, voice cracking. He slipped his arms under her body, lifting her limp form into an embrace. Tears burned down his face, mingling with the rain water which spattered his fur relentlessly. He had failed her. Killed her. His chest was bursting. Mind spinning. "COME ON JUDY! WAKE UP! JUDY WAKE UP!"

He felt her ears against his arms. Unmoving. Why wouldn't she wake up?

Help. She needed help.

He lowered her body onto the concrete, clicking the black radio caller which rested on the left side of his upper chest.

"Ten double-zero, ten double-zero, officer down. We are-"

The words stuck in his throat, smothered by wet gagging. Strangely, he only then heard the gunshot. His paw shot up to his throat, finger running round the jugular bullet-hole.

The radio crackled _Ten-nine, ten-nine. Repeat message._

He slipped backwards, colliding with the ground with enough force to wind him. He held his throat, hot liquid running over his fingers. He couldn't breathe. Someone had to save Judy. His paw groped out, searching for her. His eyes blinked away the rain, staring up at the night sky. Coldness was working its way up through his legs. She really was a special bunny.

* * *

Judy Hopps forced her eyelids open. All she remembered was darkness. The corners of her vision kept dimming. The pain wouldn't go away. She gritted her teeth, feeling warm patches on her stomach. She tried to glance around her. The police car was a blur, blue lights still flashing in the night. She rolled agonizingly onto her stomach, positioning herself to crawl, stretching one paw. Her fingers scratched at the concrete of the car park ground.

She pulled herself forward an inch.

It was too much. The pain spread through her body again. Looking ahead, she saw a still form laying inches away. She knew that bushy tail. She scraped against the concrete again. Dragged herself another inch, vision clouding. How much time had passed? Her fingers stretched out, touching his paw. It was rigid. Cold. _That's my fox_. She smiled, lip trembling. _Always my sly fox_. She squeezed his paw. She would never let go. Never. The pain was leaving her, replaced by a delightfully numb feeling, her vision narrowing further. The rain soaked their bodies. Judy could hear sirens wailing in the distance. Approaching. She knew they wouldn't arrive in time. But they were coming. They had responded and she couldn't ask for more than that.

She smiled again, closing her eyes. That's what she loved about protecting Zootopia. There was always another cop waiting in the ranks. Always another animal willing to help maintain that thin but solid blue line.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hi there.**

 **Thanks for reading. The stories in this collection generally stand on their own, linked thematically but not chronologically. So although Nick and Judy died here, rest easy. T** **hey only died in this standalone one shot. T** **hey will return in future stories in this collection. The stories will be a mix of gentle happiness and a more sombre approach. Life and death. Black and white.  
**

 **Please review. It means a lot. This is a side-project for when I'm not working on _In and Out of Love_. Any suggestions (or submissions) always welcome.**

 **Special thanks to Neytirix for inspiring this piece. Now go ahead and listen to The Sound of Silence for the full effect.  
**

 _ **Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related intellectual property is copyrighted by Disney. I make no money from this and pursue it simply for enjoyment. Any images used are copyrighted to the artist who created them. If I do not mention an artist, it is simply because I haven't been able to track down where the picture originated. If you do know who they are or are the artist themselves, please contact me and I will add the details without question or remove the image if so desired. The text of this work is copyrighted to myself. Do not reproduce the material without permission or try to pass it off as your own. Cheers. :)**_

 **Image: Neytirix**


	2. How to save a life

**By AngloFalcon**

 **How to save a life**

* * *

The waiting room was closing in. Its four walls only compressed the tension and the worry down onto him. His footfalls created a soft patting sound, the only noise to be heard in the room.

 _How is she?_

His mind was an electric storm of questions and uncertainties. He had tried sitting, standing, pacing and even reading one of the cheap, outdated magazines which littered the central coffee table. Nothing calmed the waves or quietened the storm. The tempest refused to be quelled.

He walked to the window, staring out at the grey blanket which now divided the world below from the life-giving sunshine beyond that veil. Cars fired along roadways like mice in a maze. He could make out the figures of animals walking the streets, children's toys in the playset they called the City of Possibilities. Everyone had a shot at life and no one could tell you what couldn't be done. The limits were set by yourself and if you swerved from the road before reaching the finish line, you had no one to blame but your own inadequacy. He had swerved years ago, a castoff with no value or future.

She had changed that.

His winter had thawed, giving way to the gentle promise of spring. The first rays were nothing more than hints and promises. After so many years of chill, he had been afraid to trust those glimpses of real life or take them as anything more than the idle dreaming of a broken spirit. He had once heard that all animals, no matter how much happiness they presented to the world, secretly lived lives of quiet desperation. He had almost begun to forget that his warm and vibrant dreams were merely covered by a thin layer of fear and uncertainty. With sincere words or the kind touch of a friend, those aspirations could be reawakened.

She had provided the spark.

The first smile had broken through his walls. Her face had shown none of the pretense or scarcely suppressed distrust which had greeted him daily for over twelve years. At first, he had hidden his thoughts. The barely acknowledged hope that perhaps here, finally, was a friend who would accept him for who and what he was had been too dangerous to voice. He had made his best attempt at indifference. Throughout their first hours together, he was sure she recognised little in him beyond a sly fox with a cynical perspective on the world. Her opposite. Maybe her enemy. The words had even come from her own lips. 'Lowlife', she had called him, moments before they both found themselves in the same peril at the hands of a crime lord's thugs. He had maintained the philosophy by which he lived and had refused to let her see that she got to him, that the words spoken as a way to put him in his place had cut further than she could have anticipated. Even now, she probably didn't realise that her words had hurt him so deeply. Hurt him because they were true.

But she had changed him before he even knew the change was happening. They had faced death together twice in the space of a matter of hours. Although it was because of her that he had found himself in peril, both times she was the one who had saved him.

Then it happened.

A shudder crept down him as he remembered the look on her face when an overbearing buffalo had tried to crush her dreams. She had been afraid. Torn. Worst of all, she had looked like she finally realised that the fox had been right all along with his pessimism and jibes. She never would be a real cop. He couldn't let that happen. He had seen his childhood replayed, a scene from years passed performed anew with different actors. After only a scant few seconds thought, he had placed himself on the line for her. Sworn to see her through her trials. He would bring her closer to her dreams. He delivered too. Within hours, she was the most talked about cop in the whole of Zootopia. She had returned the favour. She had offered for him to become her partner, leaving the life he had followed for more than a decade behind him forever. At that moment, he felt saved.

The door swung open and a sheep in a nurse's outfit clomped through the room, never even glancing at the fox by the window. His eyes followed her, heart rising in his chest while the words he so wanted to speak and questions he was desperate to ask caught in his throat. The nurse crossed the room, pulling the far door open and walking out into the brightly lit corridor, hooves squeaking on the floor. The door swung closed slowly while the fox's heart sank down again.

It hadn't all been smooth sailing. There had been a bad misunderstanding between them. She probably had not even realised what she was saying, but her generalised words directed at predators cut through him to the center he usually hid so well. Just moments after he had finally revealed to someone that he, the perfect conman who cared for no one and nothing, actually did care, he was stung. In an instant, he had seen that her respect for him was as thin as the paper he was signing to become her partner. Even that hadn't been enough. He had needed confirmation, giving her a final chance. That's when he saw that she was scared. Scared of him. Scared of what he was. It was only with the keenest effort that he had managed to tell her how disappointed he was in her and leave the building without his pain spilling over more openly. The tears were reserved for the quiet places where either nobody looked or nobody cared.

The next three months had been the most painful of his life. He had drifted, unable to dump the memories of her from his mind. His chest had felt empty. He had realised that it was just as he had feared. Believing in those rays of spring light had been like falling for a mirage. Life had nothing to offer except what you could work from it through the means most appropriate to your species. In his case, cunning, dishonesty and manipulation. But it had been no use. He hadn't been able to go back to his hustling life. She had changed him too much already. It was worse than before. Her high values had opened his eyes to the worthlessness of his pursuits, yet her prejudice left him with nothing, a lowlife once again.

It wasn't the end.

The fox smiled as the clouds outside began to disperse, letting light touch the city once more.

Spring had returned with her. She had sought him out and asked for his forgiveness. It was the first time anyone had told him that they were sorry for doubting him. The first time someone had reaffirmed that they believed in him. His heart had opened to her, letting her in as though nothing had disrupted their time together. The next hours had been a blur, excitement and danger taking second place to the happiness of having a friend. A true friend. One he would protect no matter what.

They had succeeded together, winning against those who wanted to harm them. He was given a second chance, breezing through the hardships of academy life by focusing his mind on seeing her again. When the day had come and he stood proud before her, ready to receive from her paws the badge which represented integrity, his heart had been aflame. He, the sly fox without ideals, was choosing a life where he would finally be brave, loyal, true and trustworthy.

Then came the heat of summer. After many a secret thought and unspoken word, he finally began to understand that the impossible had happened. The fox loved the rabbit and the rabbit loved the fox. It was more than friendship. It was a truth declared by the lingering gaze and the warmth he felt as her paw slipped into his for the first time. It was professed by the desperation he felt whenever she was absent and the peace brought on by her return. He knew that if this life was his, he wanted to share it with her until the end.

His thoughts were dispersed by the sound of the door swinging open yet again. Turning, longing for news, the fox saw a racoon approach whose fur was streaked with grey. The doctor's face wore an expression which the fox couldn't interpret.

"Mr. Wilde. Thank you for your-"

"Doctor, please, how is she? I need to know."

The racoon smiled understandingly.

"Be calm. Judy will be fine."

The fox's heart wanted to break through his chest. He longed to be beside her bed, having only agreed to the requests for him to wait outside after repeated insistence from the staff that it would be easier to care for her without him lingering.

A smile burned across the fox's face as the worry, suspense and tension seeped away, leaving only love. Deep, desperate love.

"And Mr. Wilde," the doctor added, catching his eye.

The fox held his breath.

"It's a boy."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading. Please review.  
**

 **-AF**


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